Lil' Jon Restaurant: Good, Basic Dining

Restaurant review

Lil' Jon Restaurant & Lounge, 3080 148th Ave. S.E., Bellevue; 746-4653. Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Major credit cards and checks accepted. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Years ago Lil' Jon Restaurant & Lounge staked out a spot for itself at Eastgate. Now surrounded by six other eateries, it's managed to keep its first customers as repeat customers.

Any restaurant with a brisk business from early morning until night likely has good food and service or reasonable prices or a convenient location. Lil' Jon has all three.

Run by the Sjolander family for nearly three decades, its long-time servers know their menu and their customers.

At first the menu seems ordinary: eggs, breakfast meats and pancakes for breakfast ($2.70 to $7.85); sandwiches and hamburgers for lunch ($3.00 to $5.50); beef, chicken, fish and liver meals plus entree salads for dinner ($4.25 to $9.25).

You can mix them up, because all items are served all day. There's nothing exotic, but Lil' Jon's makes ordinary foods seem special by consistently preparing them well.

The restaurant makes its own breading for the beef patties and the chicken-fried steak. Pancakes are huge. Oatmeal is cooked just right. Omelets turn out fast and flavorful, if a tad greasy.

The homemade cinnamon rolls - a meal in themselves - crown the breakfast menu. Cinnamon rolls and butterhorns come to the table buttered unless the customer requests otherwise.

Burgers at Lil' Jon have a reputation for being good, down-to-earth food. The BLT sandwiches also draw hearty compliments.

Salads are sprinkled with Lil' Jon's croutons, garlicky bits also sold by the bag to take home. Better than potato chips, people eat them like snacks.

Plates of nachos come in two sizes. The menu lists them as appetizers but they do fine as meals on their own.

The chicken dinner ($7.25) brings three pieces battered and tender. The ground sirloin dinner ($6.75) is a good buy.

Lil' Jon's reuben soup deserves special mention. Made of corned beef bits, sauerkraut and a hint of cheese, the flavors combine delicately with sour and salty nuances.

The dessert selection provides plenty of temptation - if you like pie. The customer can choose from a couple of ice cream dishes, too.

The restaurant consists of three separate rooms: coffee shop, dining room and lounge. While the dining room isn't highly formal, it provides a less casual setting than the other areas.